D-1 tennis recruit

I am the number one player for a 4-a school in south Alabama.(I am a junior) I have only played tennis for 2 and a half years (at any level) I do not have a pro, and I have only played in one usta tournament, my only training is playing competitive matches with my cousin, who has played tennis for a few more years than me, but with very good players (friends at a tennis/soccer camp he taught soccer at). Anyway I recently played a proset with a 4 star University of Alabama commit in one of my high school matches. Although he beat me 8-1, I threw away at least 3 games. I feel that he was a much better player than me, but I was expecting much more from a d-1 commit. I had hopes of playing d-3 tennis at the university of chicago, but after playing this guy I feel that division 1 tennis just isn't played on as high a level as I though. Is this a fair assumption or do you think that this kid was maybe just a fluke of a recruit.

Sounds like a fluke, if even is a real recruit, or he went very easy on you. The big D-I schools are incredibly good at tennis, without a national ranking they won't even have a look at you. So if you want to get noticed you must start playing tournaments.

I definitely plan on playing tournaments a couple times a month now, he hit the ball much much cleaner than I did, but didn't have any sense on how to win individual points, my speed (probably my best asset tennis wise anyhow) kept me in alot of points, but anyhow I am sure I will find out where I stack up to national level players when I start playing in these tournaments

you got beat by the recruit and you're judging them as "not as good" as you thought they'd be?? ....

so far you got one game off the person, even though you said you threw at least 3 games...which btw why are you throwing away games??

do tournies like other posters will say. i never done the d1 route since i suck but i assume you can fill an app with the school or maybe find a way play the college's d1 players if you think you're good enough to show the coach what you're made of.

you got beat by the recruit and you're judging them as "not as good" as you thought they'd be?? ....

so far you got one game off the person, even though you said you threw at least 3 games...which btw why are you throwing away games??

do tournies like other posters will say. i never done the d1 route since i suck but i assume you can fill an app with the school or maybe find a way play the college's d1 players if you think you're good enough to show the coach what you're made of.

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What are you talking about, I never stated that he was NOT AS GOOD as me, I actually clearly stated that HE WAS A MUCH BETTER PLAYER THAN ME. Thanks for the reply, man

I am the number one player for a 4-a school in south Alabama.(I am a junior) I have only played tennis for 2 and a half years (at any level) I do not have a pro, and I have only played in one usta tournament, my only training is playing competitive matches with my cousin, who has played tennis for a few more years than me, but with very good players (friends at a tennis/soccer camp he taught soccer at). Anyway I recently played a proset with a 4 star University of Alabama commit in one of my high school matches. Although he beat me 8-1, I threw away at least 3 games. I feel that he was a much better player than me, but I was expecting much more from a d-1 commit. I had hopes of playing d-3 tennis at the university of chicago, but after playing this guy I feel that division 1 tennis just isn't played on as high a level as I though. Is this a fair assumption or do you think that this kid was maybe just a fluke of a recruit.

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Hey post some video of your strokes and then you can get some good input!

I am the number one player for a 4-a school in south Alabama.(I am a junior) I have only played tennis for 2 and a half years (at any level) I do not have a pro, and I have only played in one usta tournament, my only training is playing competitive matches with my cousin, who has played tennis for a few more years than me, but with very good players (friends at a tennis/soccer camp he taught soccer at). Anyway I recently played a proset with a 4 star University of Alabama commit in one of my high school matches. Although he beat me 8-1, I threw away at least 3 games. I feel that he was a much better player than me, but I was expecting much more from a d-1 commit. I had hopes of playing d-3 tennis at the university of chicago, but after playing this guy I feel that division 1 tennis just isn't played on as high a level as I though. Is this a fair assumption or do you think that this kid was maybe just a fluke of a recruit.

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Well, keep in mind that within every Division there are some good schools and some OK schools and in D3 and NAIA you will see some (but not many) absolutely awful schools tennis-wise. Just because a school is Division 1 doesn't mean that you need to be amazing to play for them. I know on the women's side that if you want to play at a school like Stanford or UCLA you better be good and accomplished in your tennis career. However, if you want to play at a school like Georgetown, for example, you don't have to be anywheres near as good as you would have to be for some other schools. Their tennis program isn't as strong. It's the same on the men's side as there are many D1 schools out there and if you REALLY want to play D1 you could probably find a school that's right for you. It would help you greatly though to have at least some kind of ranking, at least a Sectional ranking.

I am not saying that you don't have to be good to play D1, you have be at least decent...but there can be huge differences between the levels of play at various D1 schools.

Well, keep in mind that within every Division there are some good schools and some OK schools and in D3 and NAIA you will see some (but not many) absolutely awful schools tennis-wise. Just because a school is Division 1 doesn't mean that you need to be amazing to play for them. I know on the women's side that if you want to play at a school like Stanford or UCLA you better be good and accomplished in your tennis career. However, if you want to play at a school like Georgetown, for example, you don't have to be anywheres near as good as you would have to be for some other schools. Their tennis program isn't as strong. It's the same on the men's side as there are many D1 schools out there and if you REALLY want to play D1 you could probably find a school that's right for you. It would help you greatly though to have at least some kind of ranking, at least a Sectional ranking.

I am not saying that you don't have to be good to play D1, you have be at least decent...but there can be huge differences between the levels of play at various D1 schools.

You mentioned that you're interested in U of Chicago. If you believe you can get in there, or a similar accademic institution, you'll probably have a hard time playing varsity tennis because, generally, schools with top academic reputations tend to have solid tennis teams. For example, I go to school in New England where the major D3 schools (NESCAC schools like Middlebury, Amherst, etc.) are better than the major D1 schools (UConn, BU, UMass, etc. excluding Ivy League). Because tennis is such a difficult sport to play professionally, it is more important to even the very best players to get a great education. Thus, if you don't want to sacrifice academics to play, you should, in my opinion, look into club teams on your campus visits, in addition to looking at varsity squads. If you're determined to play varsity, Boston College and James Madison are two places to start your search. JMU in particular seems to have a lot of foreign players, so the coach might be willing to have an American walk on to his team to try to balance out the numbers. Anyways, that's my two cents; hope it was helpful.

Play the Alabama Junior State Claycourt Championships during the end of March. Then you will know how good you are. You also have state qualifying at the end of May. Both of those should help you determine whether or not you can compete with the big boys.
My guess is that you will quickly realize that the four star was not even giving 100% against a kid who can only win one game...and I am not trying to be mean, just realistic. I won a game off of Andres Gomez after he won the French Open, but I was not calling Paris for a wild card into the event for the next year. I was realistic. I knew that one game meant nothing to Andres...a set would have been different.
Good luck with your next event...

BTW its easy to get a game or two off of top sectional players in high school tennis; it's much harder to actually beat them. It's harder still to win in USTA matches, where their bread is buttered and they're generally giving a more consistent effort. If you are serious about playing in college, and you can afford it, get yourself a coach.

You mentioned that you're interested in U of Chicago. If you believe you can get in there, or a similar accademic institution, you'll probably have a hard time playing varsity tennis because, generally, schools with top academic reputations tend to have solid tennis teams. For example, I go to school in New England where the major D3 schools (NESCAC schools like Middlebury, Amherst, etc.) are better than the major D1 schools (UConn, BU, UMass, etc. excluding Ivy League). Because tennis is such a difficult sport to play professionally, it is more important to even the very best players to get a great education. Thus, if you don't want to sacrifice academics to play, you should, in my opinion, look into club teams on your campus visits, in addition to looking at varsity squads. If you're determined to play varsity, Boston College and James Madison are two places to start your search. JMU in particular seems to have a lot of foreign players, so the coach might be willing to have an American walk on to his team to try to balance out the numbers. Anyways, that's my two cents; hope it was helpful.[/QUOTE

Thanks, that really helps. Academics is definitely more important though

if you are a second semester junior now, I would presume you are playing 18s. Now, from my tournament experience, it takes FOREVER to get your ranking up high enough to get in to nationals, at least for me it did. So, I might reconsider your D-1 dreams/expectations, because most of those schools won't take a look at you because there is no way you would have the match experience that the kids who have been playing tournaments since they are 12. Now, I'm not saying that you aren't better than these kids, but to college recruiters/coaches, they for sure are going to take someone who has been playing tournaments all of their life rather than a few here or there.

if you are a second semester junior now, I would presume you are playing 18s. Now, from my tournament experience, it takes FOREVER to get your ranking up high enough to get in to nationals, at least for me it did. So, I might reconsider your D-1 dreams/expectations, because most of those schools won't take a look at you because there is no way you would have the match experience that the kids who have been playing tournaments since they are 12. Now, I'm not saying that you aren't better than these kids, but to college recruiters/coaches, they for sure are going to take someone who has been playing tournaments all of their life rather than a few here or there.

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Yea, that sucks, I would rather go to a better academic school anyway, plus I would have more time to develop my all around athleticism with other sports, playing all sports on a very high level is very important to me. Anyway, thanks for the post